Episode

*On this date in 2014, New York City agreed to a $40 million settlement with five men who were falsely convicted in the vicious rape and beating of a Central Park jogger in 1989. The agreement still needs the approval of the city comptroller and a federal judge.

*The Mardi Gras Indians are celebrated on this date (Fat Tuesday) in 1732. These African Americans participate as a cultural foundation of New Orleans and Mardi gras history. The Mardi Gras Indians are as much a part of that secret society as any other carnival organization. The heritage of the Mardi Gras Indians is an African based long and hard road, starting in late 1600's with the Indian Village of Tchoutchuoma, near the north gate of the colonial place of what has become the New Orleans French Quarter.

*On this date in 1773, the first book of poetry written by a Black woman was published in America.

Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral by Phillis Wheatley was published. When her owner the Wheatley’s saw her writing on a wall with chalk. Rather than punish her, the Wheatley’s encouraged her to learn. Their daughter tutored her in reading and writing. Wheatley also studied English literature, Latin, and the Bible, but what she did best was to write poetry.

*The founding of Fort Mose occurred on this date in 1738. Fort Mose is the site of the first free African settlement in the United States.

It is also one of the original sites on the southern route of the Underground Railroad. Colonial Spanish Florida’s Governor Manuel Montiano established the Fort. Fort Mose gave sanctuary to Africans challenging enslavement in the English Colony of Carolina. Approximately 100 Africans lived at Fort Mose, forming more than 20 households.